The 1996 PGA Championship was the 78th PGA Championship, held August 8–11 at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. Mark Brooks won his only major championship with a birdie at the first hole of a sudden-death playoff with Kentucky native Kenny Perry. Defending champion Steve Elkington was a stroke out of the playoff, in a tie for third. It was the second consecutive and final sudden-death playoff at the PGA Championship, which changed to a three-hole aggregate format, first used in 2000 at Valhalla.

It was the second major played in Kentucky and the first in 44 years; the PGA Championship, a match play event through 1957, was played in Louisville in 1952 at Big Spring Country Club. The championship returned to Valhalla just four years later in 2000, and again in 2014 and 2024, and after hosting the Ryder Cup in 2008.

Course designer and five-time champion Jack Nicklaus missed the cut by a single stroke at age 56. He also missed the cut by one stroke in 2000 at age 60, his final appearance in the PGA Championship.

Course layout

Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotalYards4255151993554604156051654153,5545651654703502084104504325403,5907,144Par453444534365344344453672 Source:

Round summaries

First round Thursday, August 8, 1996 Friday, August 9, 1996

Kenny Perry shot a first round 66 (−6) to take the lead, finishing in the dark. Weather delayed play for nearly four hours and sixty players completed their first rounds on Friday morning. PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Kenny Perry66−6T2 Steve Elkington67−5 Phil MickelsonT4 Mark Brooks68−4 Russ Cochran Joel Edwards Lee Janzen Greg Norman Nick Price Ian Woosnam

Second round Friday, August 9, 1996

Phil Mickelson, age 26, played 24 holes on Friday and carded consecutive rounds of 67 to take a three stroke lead at 134 (−10). PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Phil Mickelson67-67=134−102 Justin Leonard71-66=137−7T3 Mark Brooks68-70=138−6 Kenny Perry 66-72=138 Vijay Singh69-69=138T6 Lee Janzen68-71=139−5 Nick Price68-71=139T8 Mike Brisky71-69=140−4 Russ Cochran 68-72=140 David Edwards 69-71=140 Brad Faxon 72-68=140 Jim Furyk 70-70=140 Greg Norman 68-72=140 Jesper Parnevik 73-67=140 Tommy Tolles 69-71=140 Tom Watson 69-71=140 Ian Woosnam 68-72=140

Third round Saturday, August 10, 1996

Kentucky native Russ Cochran shot a course record 65 (−7) to take the 54-hole lead, two strokes ahead of Mark Brooks and Vijay Singh. Brooks eagled the par-4 15th, holing out from the fairway. Seeking his first major title, Mickelson fell three strokes back after a 74 (+2). PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Russ Cochran68-72-65=205−11T2 Mark Brooks68-70-69=207−9 Vijay Singh 69-69-69=207T4 Steve Elkington67-74-67=208−8 Phil Mickelson 67-67-74=208 Nick Price 68-71-69=208T7 Mike Brisky71-69-69=209−7 Justin Leonard 71-66-72=209 Greg Norman 68-72-69=209 Jesper Parnevik 73-67-69=209 Kenny Perry 66-72-71=209 Source:

Final round Sunday, August 11, 1996

Native sons of Kentucky had different results on Sunday as Cochran shot 77 (+5) in the final pairing and faded while Perry had a 68 (−4) and waited as the clubhouse leader at 277 (−11). Playing with Cochran, Brooks birdied the par-5 final hole to force a playoff. Perry bogeyed the same hole after a hooked tee shot and was in the television booth with CBS-TV, not hitting balls. The second shot of defending champion Steve Elkington found a greenside bunker; he had a birdie putt to join the playoff, but could not convert. Tolles had a long eagle putt to tie but missed, while Singh also needed a birdie to join the playoff but made bogey to finish 2 behind.

PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T1 Mark Brooks 68-70-69-70=277 −11 Playoff Kenny Perry 66-72-71-68=277T3 Steve Elkington 67-74-67-70=278 −10 140,000 Tommy Tolles 69-71-71-67=278T5 Justin Leonard 71-66-72-70=279 −9 86,667 Jesper Parnevik 73-67-69-70=279 Vijay Singh 69-69-69-72=279T8 Lee Janzen 68-71-71-70=280 −8 57,500 Per-Ulrik Johansson 73-72-66-69=280 Phil Mickelson 67-67-74-72=280 Larry Mize 71-70-69-70=280 Frank Nobilo 69-72-71-68=280 Nick Price 68-71-69-72=280 Source:

Scorecard BirdieBogey Final round Hole  1  2  3    4    5  6789101112131415161718Par453444534534434445 Brooks −9 −10 −9 −9 −9 −10 −11 −12 −12 −12 −11 −10 −10 −9 −10 −10 −10 −11 Perry −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −8 −9 −9 −10 −10 −11 −12 −12 −12 −12 −11 Source:

Playoff The sudden-death playoff began on the 18th hole; the par-5 was the course's second-easiest hole on Sunday. Brooks reached the green in two and birdied while Perry's tee shot again found the rough on the left and his fourth was a chip that did not reach the green, ending the playoff. It was Brooks' second birdie at the hole in twenty minutes; in regulation he hit his third shot from the greenside sand to within four feet (1.3 m). PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Mark Brooks 4−1430,0002 Kenny Perry x−260,000 Source:

References

External links Full results PGA.com – 1996 PGA Championship